Hennepin County Board candidate Marisa Simonetti appeared on a podcast Thursday to discuss being a “sex worker” and previously an escort, while encouraging voters to back her in November.
Hennepin County Board candidate discusses being a ‘sex worker’ on podcast
Edina candidate Marisa Simonetti released a tarantula during a dispute with a tenant, faces misdemeanor assault charge.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 26, 2024 at 8:28PM
Simonetti had been coy when responding to questions about whether she was a sex worker, saying only that “It would cost a lot of money to find out.”
On the “Other Words for Whxre” podcast on Facebook Thursday, Simonetti was unequivocal, introducing herself as a candidate for Hennepin County commissioner and saying: “I’m a professional whore.”
“This is really the first [time] I’ve come out and made any full connection,” Simonetti told the podcast panel. “This is our story, and we get to take our power back. I’m going to say, when I want to say, what I want to say.”
Simonetti acknowledged her alias, Jennie Kennedy, for the first time. She has social media accounts and a website advertising escort services under that name, where she appears in lingerie with her face blurred.
When asked directly about her escort work, which she briefly discussed on the podcast, Simonetti said it happened in the past. She said the web page advertising her escort services now serves as a “marketing tool” for her OnlyFans account, a website where people share pornographic content with subscribers for a fee.
She would not rule out continuing as an OnlyFans creator if she was elected to the Hennepin County Board.
“People want honesty and to be straightforward. I’m not doing anything wrong,” Simonetti said in an interview about her decision to speak publicly about sex work. “People shame women to try to control them, and I refuse to accept that narrative.”
Earlier, Simonetti released a statement saying she had to make a plan for her and her son to escape an abusive situation and that she now has “considerable wealth.”
An altercation and a tarantula
Simonetti’s candid talk about her experiences as a sex worker is the latest twist in her increasingly bizarre campaign for the Sixth District seat on the Hennepin County Board.
Simonetti received international attention after being arrested June 21 following a conflict with a tenant when she released a tarantula down the stairs of her Edina home. She said it was a “Home Alone” inspired joke to get Jacklyn Vasquez to leave the basement she was subletting.
Simonetti pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor fifth-degree assault charge and is due back in court Oct. 17.
After the incident, Vasquez said she was not physically harmed but had been “emotionally and mentally” injured by the altercation that she said was “right out of a scary movie.”
Simonetti accused Vasquez of being a “squatter” and refusing to leave. She also alleged Vasquez threatened to expose her work on OnlyFans and tried to extort money from her.
Cassie Merrick, who is Vasquez’s lawyer, denied her client made threats or tried to extort Simonetti. She said Vasquez just wanted a safe and quiet place to study for the bar exam.
“It is reprehensible that Ms. Simonetti is using this assault to fundraise and gain notoriety,” Merrick said.
Simonetti dubbed herself the “Spider Queen” and offered “Tarantula Tosser” T-shirts in exchange for campaign donations.
Rematch for the District 6 seat
Simonetti will face Heather Edelson Nov. 5 in the Sixth District race. They were the top candidates in an April special primary for the seat, and Edelson won the May 14 special election.
The race is nonpartisan, but Edelson is a DFLer who served three terms as a state representative from Edina. Edelson said she was focused on working for district residents and had no further comment about her opponent.
Simonetti campaigned as a family-values conservative focused on lowering taxes and crime, but has backed away from the GOP label after local Republicans pulled their support and criticized her behavior. She has said repeatedly she doesn’t think her past is in conflict with a values-focused candidacy.
The Hennepin County Board has seven commissioners who oversee a $2.7 billion budget and 10,000 employees. Commissioners earn $122,225 annually.
The Sixth District has 66 precincts and includes the communities of Edina, Hopkins, Mound, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Long Lake and Shorewood.
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said Wednesday.
